


Are You Still There?

by julysunicorn



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Darkfic, bad time run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:47:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28164222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julysunicorn/pseuds/julysunicorn
Summary: When there's nothing left to lose, why not try something new? Sans tries to get through to Frisk when they meet again in the Judgment Hall.
Kudos: 9





	Are You Still There?

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! I hope you're all doing well and I want to take the opportunity to thank any service members out there. so normally on Memorial Day all my relatives get together for a big cookout and everything... but with this accursed virus our plans were canceled. We'restill barbecuing but it'll just be us so... but since it was just us I decided to make the most of it and wrote this last night and got it cleaned up today, I worked really really hard on it to really make sure there were no typos (i type really fast so it's a regular problem for me) nad I think I got them all out? and the csapitalization should be correct too. it took literal hours i mean omg I value my best friend's (who has done editing for me in the past) work so much more now it must be torture for her to clean up my stuff, I'm so sorry. but even if i didn't get everything don't be afraid to give criticism just because i worked hard on it! seriously never do that because otherwise writers will never improve it is very sweet of you tho! So I hope you enjoy this, it's really dark and angsty I was just in the mood for the genre. I believe this would be classified as darkfic but I'm not entirely sure. still I belive it needs an M rating it's pretty dark. I feel kind of bad posting such a dark fic on today, but it's probably just my anxiety talking again, but if you are offended I am deeply sorry it just happened this way.

Like the thousands of times preceding this one, the child shambled into the golden hall, dusty fingers clutching a garden hoe so tightly her knuckles were white under the oversized sleeve of her striped sweater. Past several large stained-glass windows, all the way on the far end of the final corridor before her goal, Sans stood in his usual spot, hands shoved into his hoodie's pockets.

The child, staring straight into him with wide eyes and a fixed grin, didn't notice, but there was something different about him this time around. His shoulders were slightly slumped, and there were dark lines - almost like tear stains - trailing down from his eye sockets.

"Well... you're finally here, kid," he said. His tone was normal, jovial, but still... there was something off. "Spent a little longer this time in Waterfall. Guess you were really bent on watering it down, huh? Liquefying the folks? Wow, is someone cutting onions in here, 'cause I sure am getting choked up."

The child didn't respond, only continued to stare at him. Sans sighed. "Yeah. I don't really appreciate gallows humor, either."

He studied her for a moment, taking note of her stiff posture, almost like an aging corpse reanimated to walk these halls; her glazed, soulless eyes that bore into him, and her frozen smile; how she twitched and jerked, and how she seemingly wasn't even aware of it. And the dust. Everywhere. Embedded in her clothes, scattered throughout her hair, making it look several shades lighter brown than it truly was.

She radiated unease, and a primal feeling of wrong. Like she was a perversion of nature itself, her very existence a glitch in the way things were meant to be. The abhorrence was so strong, Sans looked away from her form on reflex.

"So, uh, kid," he said, eyes locked instead on a column to his left, "hope you don't mind, but, uh... I'd like to do somethin' a little different this round."

The child didn't respond, so Sans continued, still unable to look at her. "I'm going to be honest with you... I know me fightin' you here isn't going to work. Whether it takes a hundred tries, or just one, you'll kill me and move on to the King. I can't stop you, but I also can't lie down and let you destroy this world again. My brother's memory means more than that." He cocked his skull at her, eyes darting to her only a second before he had to look away again. "Remember him? I'm sure you do. You really took your time with him this round..."

Sans' hands balled into fists in his pockets, but he forced them to relax. "Papyrus... for some reason, always believed you could do better. Whether that's because of the monster he was, or because he couldn't remember your previous runs, I don't think either of us will ever know. But he believed in you, and cared about you. I remember how much you cared about him, too, in your earlier runs. How close you two were. How close we were."

After several moments of silence, Sans finally forced himself to look straight at the beast at the other end of the corridor. "Frisk," he said, despair straining his voice, "I don't wanna do this anymore. I don't know what happened to you... but maybe there's a chance you're still in there. That you care. That, deep down, you don't wanna fight me anymore, either."

Trembling, the skeleton got down on his knees, holding his hands up in surrender. "I've never shown you mercy in this room, but I'm... I'm willing to give my brother's logic a shot. Please, Frisk - p-put the knife down. I won't... I won't fight you this time. No blasters, no bones, no blue magic, nothing. Just drop the knife." Sans' bones rattled as he tried in vain to calm himself down. "I... I trust you, buddy. No tricks this time. I trust you enough to spare you."

Slowly, something appeared in the corners of Frisk's eyes. Squinting to make it out in the shadows, Sans realized they were tears. Tears of anguish. Her demented expression remained frozen on her face as the tears ran down her cheeks and dotted her shirt. Saliva dripped from her mouth, but whatever it was controlling her body didn't seem to notice. Her jerking continued unabated.

Sans closed his eyes, his head lowering in defeat. His friend was still there, in some capacity, but not enough to fight back against whatever had possessed her.

Her movements almost robotic, Frisk began dragging herself across the hall to approach her enemy. Sans' shoulders shook, fresh tears of his own meeting the corners of his eyesockets. There really was nothing he could do. His friend was gone. His brother was gone. His life was gone. Truly, truly gone.

And it would happen to him again. And again. And again.

"It was worth a shot," he said, laughing a little as the scuffling footsteps got closer. He looked up to see Frisk's lunatic face, and said, "Kid, I just want you to know... I forgive-"

Chara cut him short, plunging her knife into his SOUL. She relished the sight of his shocked expression, and the feeling of fresh, warm dust on her hands when he expired. Dragging her stolen feet through the mound of what was once Sans the skeleton, she made her way in the direction of the throne room.

Frisk's tears didn't stop dripping as they left him behind.


End file.
